


Tame

by trufflemores_Glee_fic



Category: Glee
Genre: AU, M/M, Romance, how to train your dragon, permanent hiatus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 22:42:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11587671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trufflemores_Glee_fic/pseuds/trufflemores_Glee_fic
Summary: Read-at-your-own-risk, this is an unfinished "How to Train Your Dragon" Klaine AU.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everybody! After receiving multiple requests to repost my old Glee fics, I have created a second AO3 account to do so. I hope you can forgive me for flooding the Glee pages over the next few days. 
> 
> I also ask for kindness regarding the quality of these fics. Over on my main AO3 account (trufflemores), I have written over 150 Flash fics; end result, my current work is of a higher quality than these older pieces. But I know how beloved old fics can be, and I respect that something I consider sub-par can be someone else's favorite. 
> 
> So I hope you enjoy this fic and any others you choose to read. If you choose to do so, I would also be happy to have you on board 'The Flash' bandwagon as well.
> 
> Kick back, relax, and enjoy. You have been one of the greatest audiences I have ever had.
> 
> Affectionately yours,  
> trufflemores

"Well, now that you've been informally introduced, I felt like a quieter introduction would be appropriate," Blaine said, hobbling backwards a handful of steps before whistling.

There was a beat, Kurt's gaze drawn expectantly towards the mossy boulder at Blaine's back.  Even knowing what he was about to see didn't make the sight of a Night Fury any less overwhelming.

With slow, stalking movements, the Night Fury crouched and leaped clear over the boulder, landing with a silent thud in front of him.  Rearing up, the Night Fury let out a warbling bellow that made Kurt step back a pace reflexively.  Blaine reached out a hand fearlessly and rested it on the Night Fury's shoulders, causing it to hunch forward into a more relaxed crouch once more.

"So, he's really yours, then," Kurt breathed, staring at Blaine and the Night Fury in turns.  It was difficult to take his eyes off the dragon for even a moment, the wide green orbs captivating in their intensity.  "How long have you -- uh -- owned a Night Fury?"

"We like to think of it more as a partnership," Blaine explained, reaching for the Night Fury and rubbing his head as soon as he was in reach.  "Don't we, huh, buddy?  Now be nice," he added sternly.

No amount of warning could have prepared Kurt for the two ton beast lumbering in his direction, sniffing cautiously at his boots before snorting a gust of hot air over them.  "Please tell me he doesn't bite," Kurt said, eyes closed tightly as the Night Fury sniffed over the rest of him.  "I'm really not in the mood to find out how tasty I may or may not be to a dragon."

Blaine laughed, startling the Night Fury -- Kurt held his breath as the dragon did the same -- before it emitted another warbling sound, almost like a chuckle.  "Don't worry; he's already been fed this morning.  And he knows not to bite guests.  Right, Astor?"

Astor blew out another gust of hot air, turning so he could direct his full attention at Blaine instead.  Kurt breathed a sigh of relief at the dragon's diverted attention, watching as Astor wagged his tail before licking Blaine's chin.

"Ack!  Astor.  You know that you're not supposed to do that."

Wiping saliva off his face, Blaine smiled sheepishly as he rested an arm over Astor's broad head, trying to keep him under control.  "So, uh -- what do you think?  Are you freaked out?"  He waited for Kurt to respond, interpreting his gawking silence as bad as he added, "Oh, God, you're freaking out.  He's -- he's great, I promise.  He really ... he's sort of a big deal to me and I'm sorry and I know that we've been dating for a while and I really should have told you sooner but I just--"

"Blaine?"

"... Yes?"

"Please stop talking."

Blaine mimed lock-and-keying his lips, staring worriedly at Kurt as Kurt stepped closer to the Night Fury, breathing out slowly to keep his heart beat under control.  "So this is your ... dragon," he said softly.

In lieu of a verbal response, Blaine nodded.  Astor watched Kurt with bright eyes, nostrils flaring and pupils widening with curiosity as he approached.  Tentatively -- willing himself not to lose his nerve -- Kurt held out a shaking hand towards the Night Fury, gasping as warm scaly skin rubbed against his fingers.  The dragon didn't recoil in horror at his touch or incinerate him on sight, both of which Kurt considered herculean successes as he brushed his hand down the length of his skull.  "Astor," he repeated quietly.

"It's, ah -- sort of a bastardized version of astra," Blaine explained, rubbing the back of his neck as he stepped back to allow Kurt to inspect the Night Fury unimpeded.  "It means stars in Latin.  Like -- per aspera ad astra. -- Through hardships--"

"--to the stars," Kurt finished, feeling the scales shifting underneath his fingers as they traced along Astor's shoulder, patient and still as he watched him with wide green eyes.  "He's beautiful," he admitted, every ounce of tension easing from Blaine's body at the words.

"He really is," Blaine agreed quietly, rubbing behind one of Astor's ears (or, presumably his ears: Kurt hadn't actually studied dragon anatomy in a while, and Night Furies were a particularly elusive species, rarely revealing all of their secrets).  The dragon wagged his tail slowly in approval, eyes half-masted with pleasure.  "I haven't really told anyone outside my family about him, and they're still coming around to the idea that their son is a dragon rider.  I didn't want to throw you off."

Steeling his breath, Kurt asked in a voice that only shook a little with weak humor, "Were you holding him back as a wedding gift or would I have found out about him sooner?"

Blaine's laugh was equally nervous, but Astor's snort was wholeheartedly genuine.  "No, n-no, I -- I wanted to tell you, really, I did, but there was -- there were a lot of things, and I didn't want to spook you early on that I had a dragon -- a very well-behaved and nice dragon, not like some of those meaner ones that you hear about, I promise -- but -- one thing after another came up and--"

"And then you saved my life," Kurt finished.

Blaine blushed pink.  "Astor did.  I just pointed him in the right direction."

Kurt wasn't so sure about that -- he'd been crouched amid the burning debris on the seventh floor of his apartment complex, certain that his time was limited to the few seconds remaining before the roof caved in and crushed him before a sonic boom and a flash of blue light crashed through the nearest wall and Astor and Blaine swooped in the hole in its place.  There wasn't time to explain anything, and Kurt's mind had already been suitably foggy from the experience that he didn't know how to react when a dragon and its rider burst through the wall seven stories off the ground, but needless to say he put up little resistance as he was scooped up by his very worried-looking boyfriend and deposited onto said-dragon's back before Astor crouched and took off just as the ceiling caved in.

It was all over the news, of course.  Blaine and Astor had spent hours fielding reporters and policemen alike, confirming Astor's registration a dozen times while Kurt sat on a cot nearby, holding an oxygen mask to his face and a shock blanket around his shoulders.

Dragon riders weren't uncommon in their day -- they'd certainly made a comeback from the early days when hardly any dragons even existed to be tamed, let alone the thousands that roamed wild worldwide now -- but they were still novelties to the general public, and Blaine had pleaded off as soon as the police were satisfied that he didn't cause any unnecessary damage and he'd only been trying to rescue his boyfriend from near certain death.  He'd spared a long, guilty glance at Kurt before mounting Astor's back and holding on as he took off into the night sky, disappearing in a flash.

To see the same heroic duo in daylight was a little shocking for Kurt.  He knew Blaine -- or at least, he thought he'd known Blaine; he knew the smart, funny, musical theatre-loving Blaine, but he didn't know dragon rider Blaine, let alone Night Fury rider Blaine -- and it scared him to think about how similar the two people were.

He'd always thought of dragon riders as mystic and untouchable, occasionally destructive but rarely seen.  To have one in the flesh before him beside his own dragon -- and a stunning one at that -- was understandably overwhelming for Kurt.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked, carefully reaching up to cup his cheek.  His hands were lightly calloused and he was wearing his riding gear, not unlike the same gear that he had toted around for his "polo" competitions. 

Suddenly his insistence that the meets were closed to Kurt seemed improbably coincidental when weighed against the Night Fury at his side and his present state of dress.  Kurt decided not to fault him for lying to him about his occupation; he wasn't sure it would have been any easier to swallow then.  Not to be mistaken, Blaine was a masterful horse rider, but Kurt knew with a sudden certainty that most of those sessions had been for show.

Wondering what other aspects of his life were altered or hidden from Kurt altogether, Kurt started when he heard Astor make an inquisitive noise in the back of his throat, another strange warbling sound that made his heart skip a beat.  "It's okay," Blaine assured, cupping his head with both hands and smiling, trying to infuse his sense of calmness into Kurt through sheer force of will.  "He won't hurt you."

Astor hummed in agreement, nudging up against Kurt's leg lightly.

Drawing in a deep breath and letting it but slowly, Kurt looked between Blaine and his dragon, looking almost comically out of place on the Anderson's spacious back lot, before he nodded slowly.  "Okay," was all he said, looping his arms around Blaine's waist and hugging him close.  "But no more secrets.  At least -- not big ones.  And no life-changing ones, either.  Okay?"

"Aren't they the same thing?" Blaine asked playfully, some of his humor returning with his relief.

Kurt poked him in the side.  "Blaine."

"All right, all right.  I promise."  He sounded serious, too.  Kurt took it as progress.

"As long as you try to do the same," Blaine added.

Kurt couldn't help but laugh.  "You were hiding a Night Fury from me," he said.  The warm summer air was already lightening his mood, and Astor couldn't help but pick up on their pleasure, wagging his tail again lightly.  "You can't possibly accuse me of anything worse than that."

"Fair enough," Blaine conceded, pulling back to kiss him on the tip of his nose.  After a thoughtful pause, he added, "Should I mention that the prosthetic leg didn't actually come from a horse fall or would that seem too Captain Obvious for one afternoon?"

"A little too Captain Obvious," Kurt said, kissing him properly when Blaine pouted.  Astor warbled happily, nuzzling up between them after a moment with a gleeful surge of bulky muscle.

"God, you're getting big," Blaine grunted, rubbing under Astor's chin to appease him.  "How much bigger are you going to grow, hm?  Not going to take over the whole house, are you?"

Kurt couldn't help but smile at the way that he treated Astor, the dragon rolling his eyes in response and snapping playfully at his fingers.  He was huge, but Kurt was certain that he had reached his peak.

"So, tell me more about your secret dragon riding lifestyle," Kurt said, making himself comfortable on the red-and-white blanket and inviting Blaine to join him with a pat.  They had originally planned to have a picnic out in the woodsy area, even though Kurt knew Blaine's true intentions from the moment that he'd requested his presence.  He'd still obliged, showing up and feigning ignorance until Blaine had chosen to show him Astor, even letting him put together the final touches for their food basket.  It lay abandoned on the checkered blanket beside it, spread out for two to sit comfortably.

Blaine joined him and Astor did the same, flopping to the ground and resting his head on Blaine's lap to receive more head scratches.  "You're both hopeless when it comes to those," Kurt pointed out as Blaine -- seemingly unconsciously -- obliged Astor's wishes, rubbing behind his ears.

Blaine paused halfway to the basket, smiled, and continued to reach for it until he was able to grab the handle and pull it closer without disturbing Astor's position. "Tell me what you want to know," he prompted, pulling out two sandwiches and passing one along to Kurt.

Not quite sure where to start or what he wanted to know most, Kurt said, "When did you meet him?"

"Three years ago," Blaine explained, unwrapping his sandwich and taking a big bite, eating one-handedly to continue scratching along Astor's scales.  "I was -- at a school dance and there was an incident afterward in the parking lot.  I wasn't the most popular kid, back then," he added solemnly.

Kurt didn't need to ask to read between the lines there.  "What happened?"

"Well," Blaine said, taking another big bite as Astor looked up at him, equally enthralled, "they, um.  They roughed my date and I up a little, but then -- there was this flash and I just remember thinking that it was over and then Astor showed up and, well.  He saved me."

"Why?" Kurt couldn't help his own curiosity.  Astor's gaze never wavered even as Blaine cleared his throat and shook his head, still rubbing the dragon's head slowly.

"I don't honestly know," he admitted.  "He had these -- horrible tears in his wings, it took them a long time to heal.  I tried to keep him a secret for a while when he refused to leave and then my parents found out and they helped me get him back on his feet in no time.  They weren't happy at first, but they really did warm up to him.  I'm so glad they did," he added honestly.

"Me, too," Kurt said, looking at Astor and his wings in particular, taking note of the fine, faded scars along them.  His gaze drifted down to where he knew Blaine's prosthetic was, just underneath the right knee.  "What happened to your leg?"

"Well."  Blaine laughed sheepishly, shaking his head.  "We bumped into some not-so-friendly dragon riders and one of their dragons took a bit of a nibble from me."

"You're kidding," Kurt gasped.

"Wish I was," Blaine said with a rueful smile, taking a bite of his sandwich.  "Astor pulled me out of that one, too.  Knows where all the food comes from," he added sagely, handing the rest of his sandwich to the dragon, who gulped it down in a single swallow.  "He's really -- he's everything to me.  I love you and I need you, Kurt, but I can't give up him, either."

Looking between them, Kurt could see why.  "Then I won't ask you to," he said at last decisively.  "I don't need you to give him up for me."

Nodding -- relieved at the reassurance -- Blaine put on a brave face and asked, "What else do you want to know?"

Kurt continued to ask him questions about his family and their reactions to Astor, how he'd learned to ride a dragon and what the challenges were, where Astor lived and how they managed to keep him comfortable during the winter.

Once the sandwiches and strawberries were gone and the waters depleted, Blaine stood up and helped Kurt to his own feet, saying, "Let me take you for a ride."

Kurt laughed nervously at the thought, balking when Blaine didn't laugh along.  "You can't be serious."

"It's the safest place in the world," Blaine promised solemnly.  His expression didn't change; if it wasn't for the absurdity of the comment, then Kurt would have believed him utterly that he was being serious.

But it was just so ridiculous.  "I've never even ridden a dragon before," he said, hoping to dissuade Blaine quickly and easily.

Blaine was nothing if not persistent, however, as he said cheerfully, "What better way to learn?  You have to try it.  Just once.  If you hate it, then I'll never make you do it again.  Ever.  Ever."

Kurt groaned, torn between rationality and curiosity.  Astor stood and straightened his shoulders, looking expectantly at Kurt as though he, too, suspected that there was no reason for Kurt to refuse.

Groaning, Kurt said, "Fine.  But if I fall--"

"You won't fall," Blaine promised.

True to his word, Blaine helped him get saddled and slid onto the space behind him, keeping him secure as they took off and holding on so that he didn't slide off the dragon's back.

"Don't overthink it!" Blaine shouted over the wind, Astor swooping through the clouds with a natural grace that made Kurt's stomach flutter and his heart leap with every stroke of his wings.  "Just enjoy it!"

Once he got used to the initial heart-stopping height of their adventure, he couldn't help but admire their vantage point and the vast fields of greenery below.  Astor was a natural in the air and Blaine a very competent flyer, keeping a firm hold on Kurt while successfully steering Astor with little more than commands and light nudges from his knees.

Adrenalin melted into amazement as they flew, Kurt relaxing a little in Blaine's hold as they swept up and down, settling into the unexpectedness of it all.

"This is amazing," he shouted.

"I know!" Blaine crowed.

They flew until Kurt's cheeks were numb from the cold and Blaine's arms had gone vise-like to keep him from falling, his own expression mirroring some of the ecstatic joy written across Blaine's face.

"A dragon," he said breathlessly when they had landed back in the same field, kissing Blaine before he could reply.

All in all, there were worse things than finding out that his boyfriend was best friends with a Night Fury.  Kurt considered it a success that Blaine had let him meet Astor at all, looping his arms around Blaine's neck and kissing him soundly.

Astor chortled in the background, evidently amused, but Kurt couldn't bring himself to break apart and smile at him, too enveloped in his rider's presence to care.


	2. Chapter 2

Riding a dragon was easier said than done.

Kurt hadn't known just how involved the process could be until Blaine had started tinkering with the saddle settings as Astor crouched patiently to give him easier access. It took the better part of twenty minutes for Blaine to adjust the saddle and straps until Kurt was seated comfortably on the Night Fury's back. The sky was stormy gray above them, but the forecast was clear for the morning, and Kurt knew that with October rapidly winding down, opportunities to fly in non-snowy weather were growing slimmer.

Still, every anxiety that had been quiet and complacent for the duration of the strapping-in process kicked in with a vengeance once Astor rose to his full height, towering at nearly four feet at the shoulder.

Kurt shuddered and exhaled, forcing himself to draw in a breath as Astor rumbled underneath him, clearly eager to be in the air. It only took half the time for Blaine to mount him and fly when it was just him; even less if he skipped the saddle altogether. To Kurt's relief, the Night Fury didn't seem angry at the delay, only perplexed that they weren't already airborne. Having only known Astor for the better part of a month, Kurt was still wrestling with the equally perplexing truth that Blaine was a dragon rider, and that said dragon was directly underneath him, about to launch himself hundreds of feet into the air with certain death lurking below them.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Kurt tried and failed to draw another breath as Blaine said, "I think you're ready." He stepped back to admire his handiwork, Astor straightening to his full height and breathing out a gusty cloud of hot air, chomping at the proverbial bit to fly.

It was then, of course, that Kurt's survival instinct kicked in and he squeaked, "Blaine." Then, louder, he eked out, "Blaine, get me down."

Astor rolled his great green eyes and blew out a deep breath as Kurt held onto his saddle fiercely, willing his nervousness down. Apparently unbothered by his cargo, Astor flattened the grass underneath him as he dropped to his belly, startling another squeak out of Kurt as he held on.

Rumbling, Astor tilted his head to look at Blaine as Blaine stroked his shoulder soothingly, silently begging his patience for a little longer. "I thought you wanted to give solo flight a try?" Blaine asked gently, directing his attention at Kurt as he rested his free hand on Kurt's left riding boot, already tucked in the stirrup. Dressed in his white riding pants and a form-fitting red shirt, he struck a cutting figure against the bright green grass even with windblown curls (only just managed by a dab of hair gel) and dirt smeared cheeks (a byproduct of wrestling his satchel free from Astor's mouth). Kurt was tempted to give in at once, drawn in by Blaine's calmness and certainty, before rationality reasserted itself and he tightened his grip around the saddle's reins once more.

"I'veneverriddenahorse."

"What?"

"I've never ridden a horse," Kurt repeated. "I can't ride a dragon."

Amusement colored Blaine's expression as he fought back a grin, managing a polite smile as he explained, "Well, the good news is that riding a dragon is a bit different than riding a horse. He won't let you fall."

Blaine stepped back to admire his handiwork and Astor took that as his cue to stand, his wings shivering at his side, itching to unfold. "Blaine Anderson, you get me down right now," Kurt hissed, flexing his hands against the reins as Astor let out another rumbling noise.

"One flight," Blaine wheedled, attempting to appease both of them as he glanced pointedly at Astor (just wait) and smiled up at Kurt. "You'll love it. You've loved our other flights," he added.

Kurt hated to admit that Blaine was right, but it was true. Flying with Astor and Blaine had been nothing less than incredible. The first rush of adrenaline and the consequent flush of exhilaration as they flew always left him glued to Blaine's back but unable to take his eyes off the skies. It was an incomparably wonderful experience, but it was also terrifying to consider the prospect of flying alone without an experienced rider. The former was safe and comfortably out of his hands; he didn't need to worry about what would happen if something went wrong because Blaine would know, and nothing would go wrong, and the ground would always be gentle underneath them.

The latter felt akin to stepping off the edge of a cliff without a parachute. He had to trust implicitly that the ground below was soft and wouldn't break every limb in his body.

An involuntary shudder rolled through his frame at the thought; he'd never imagined that he would ever be in such a position someday, no matter how common dragons were. It was intimidating to know that Blaine trusted him enough to even offer him the opportunity, and he knew that he would forget his trepidation in the air -- or at least, his ability to do anything about it -- but he still couldn't fight back the powerful urge to flee while he was still on the ground.

Oblivious to his internal struggles, Astor yawned and stretched his wings out, giving them a shake to get the blood flowing. He knelt and looked at Blaine, Kurt's heart pounding in anticipation as he clung to the saddle fiercely.

"I won't make you do it, but I don't think you'd regret it if you did it, either," Blaine said, expression open and honest as he looked up at Kurt. They were both adorned in the same riding gear, but compared to Blaine's unshakeable confidence in the Night Fury's abilities Kurt felt childish and unprepared, an imposter masquerading as a master.

Still. Blaine's confidence was heady, and Kurt knew that he wouldn't be disappointed with Kurt even if he chose to slide out of the saddle and spend time on the grassy meadow reading or chatting or doing nothing at all while Astor flew circles around them. Blaine wouldn't be disappointed because Blaine had no expectations; only hopes, and those were worse, perhaps, because Kurt didn't want to let down someone who trusted him to make the right call.

Besides, opportunities to ride dragons were scarce enough in the world. He wasn't about to turn down the chance, however terrifying it seemed.

He couldn't let Blaine off the hook entirely, though, so what he said was, "You have the worst puppy eyes."

"Is that a yes?" Blaine asked, brightening visibly at the prospect.

Kurt sighed, wrapping his gloved fingers more firmly in the reins. "If I die--"

"You won't die," Blaine promised, beaming.

Not one to be forgotten, Astor groaned impatiently, his weight swaying lightly to and fro as he waited for permission to fly. Sensing the dragon's impatience, Blaine didn't waste a moment, hobbling back a few more paces to allow Astor room to flap his wings without fear of knocking him over.

The Night Fury breathed out deeply and crouched, Kurt's heart skipping a beat as Astor bunched his muscles and then leaped, beating his wings rapidly to put distance between them and the ground below.

Kurt's breath was snatched from him as they shot upward, his hands clinging to Astor's saddle for dear life as the dragon climbed and climbed and climbed, heedless of the altitude. The air was still warm when they dipped into a sea of cavernous clouds, Astor pushing higher as though they didn't exist, eager to be in the air.

"Easy, easy," Kurt chattered as they finally broke through the top layer, the air beginning to run frigid and scarce so high up. Astor radiated heat like a furnace, but the contrast between the mild autumn day below and the cooler wintry skies around him still made Kurt shiver in his seat. "Easy, Astor, easy," he chided, patting the dragon's shoulder tentatively. He didn't dare tug on the reins, but the dragon relented on his vertical plunge, his upward climb sloping into a gentler trajectory.

The dragon tilted his head to look at him after a moment before leveling out completely, commanding a vista of clouds that took Kurt's breath away. He'd flown with Blaine before and been impressed a dozen times over by the sights below that they'd seen, crossing landscapes and even small cities without attracting undue notice, but nothing could compare to his first sight of the rolling, uninhabitable white landscape stretching for miles in every direction around them. As far as Kurt could see, there was openness. It was as though they were the only living creatures left on Earth. Kurt's heart continued to race as Astor flapped his wings to remain level, his breath puffing in and out of him slowly.

It didn't matter that the air was thinner and cooler here; Kurt felt as though he could fly forever atop the clouds, urging Astor forward with a gentle, almost unconscious nudge from his heels. Astor stretched out his wings and glided, soaring over the towering white clouds as though he could inhale them if he so desired, forever at home where no other creatures could survive. With each gentle press of his heels, Kurt was able to communicate a need to turn or dip or even once, daringly, to roll, a laugh startling out of him as they righted, alive, whole, unharmed.

Kurt understood, then, exactly why Blaine could and did spend hours up here at a time, perfectly content to travel in perpetuity through the sea of white. The freedom was intoxicating.

Astor was patient with him, letting Kurt guide his movements with gentle taps and breathless commands as they glided over the landscape. Kurt realized that he didn't need to ask Blaine to know that there was an unspoken truce between them: Astor would not harm Kurt so long as Kurt respected that Astor had his own say on every matter, choosing to oblige or ignore Kurt's decisions alternately. As much as it had always seemed like Blaine was the one guiding Astor to different regions and navigating the skies, Kurt quickly realized that it had always been Astor, communicating compliance rather than receiving instructions from Blaine.

Astor had chosen to let them be a part of this. Blaine had simply earned Astor's trust first, and it was then that Kurt realized that he had won over Astor's trust, too.

The rush of affection and awe that flushed through him at the thought left him speechless for a long time.

At last, once the chill had steeped into his bones and his shudders were too violent to ignore, Astor's flight shifted. Kurt didn't need to tell him to descend as Astor began to spiral downward in long, slow arcs, bringing them carefully below the cloud line once more. Kurt caught his first glimpse of the ground since their ascent, his grip tightening around the reins in spite of himself, more out of reflex than anything. He knew that Astor wouldn't let harm come to either of them, and he was vindicated as Astor wound lazily along the currents until he could alight on the grass, landing without fuss in the middle of the clearing. Craning his head around to look at Kurt, he tilted it to one side questioningly.

Half-frozen though he was, Kurt still managed to expulse a weak, "Good," as he patted Astor's shoulder and shivered. "Very g-good."

"Back so soon?" Blaine teased, sauntering over and resting a hand on Kurt's calf, the easiest part he could reach atop Astor's back. "How was it?"

"G-good," Kurt repeated, fingers almost frozen to the reins as he asked thinly, "Help me down?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, let me--" Blaine hastened to undo the straps with a hurried apology, fingers flying over the buckles until he could slide Kurt's leg free, one and then the other. He held out his arms and helped Kurt catch his footing as he slid off Astor's back, rubbing his arms to bring feeling back to them.

Still somewhat dazed, Kurt let Blaine fret over him for a few moments before swallowing and daring to ask, "How long were we up there?"

"About an hour," Blaine replied, worry coloring his voice as he looked Kurt over. "You're freezing. I told you to wear a heavier coat," he added, stripping off his own belatedly and draping it over Kurt's shoulders. "Better?"

Kurt nodded, tucking his numb fingers underneath the warm fabric, infused with Blaine's scent. "Th-thank you."

Astor warbled again, lowering his head slightly in concern as he sniffed at Kurt, searching for an injury. "I'm fine," Kurt assured him, unable to keep his teeth chattering entirely quiet. He still managed to free a hand from Blaine's jacket to pat Astor's neck. "Good boy. G-good boy."

Blaine kept an arm around his waist as he shepherded them back to the house, Astor trundling along after them until they reached the back porch. "Sorry, bud," Blaine said, letting go of Kurt briefly to rest a hand on Astor's shoulder. "I'll be back later. Stay safe."

Astor nudged his head briefly against Blaine's side as both a silent confirmation and a warning to do the same before padding off and taking to the skies once more.

"Come on. Let's get you warmed up," Blaine said, guiding Kurt into the living room and piling blankets on him until Kurt managed a weak laugh and a short, "Blaine."

Undeterred, Blaine disappeared into the kitchen and made them both coffees before curling up on the couch with Kurt underneath the blankets watching reruns of different cooking shows. Even with his prosthetic leg, it was comfortable; Kurt fit between them just so that he could lean against Blaine's chest comfortably. With his head tucked against Blaine's shoulder, Kurt couldn't complain about their predicament or what had led to it, his fingers and toes still tingling from their recent thaw.

"Better?" Blaine asked after a time, nudging his nose against his hair lightly, the concern evidently still itching underneath his skin.

"Mmmhmm." Feeling sleepy and content, Kurt nuzzled up under Blaine's chin and added, "Much better. And I have to give you credit for the idea -- it was amazing."

A slow smile split Blaine's lips as he pressed a kiss to Kurt's temple, almost bashful in his silence. "I'm so glad," he said at last, honestly. Resting his hand on Kurt's back, Blaine added softly, "I'm so proud of you for trying. It's -- terrifying, not knowing what will happen. But once you do it's sort of like a drug; you can't get away from it." He smiled ruefully, rubbing Kurt's arm, more absentmindedly than for warmth. "I'd do anything for him and I know that he'd do the same for me, and that's -- incredible. I just -- wanted to share that with you."

Sitting up so he could look Blaine in the eyes, Kurt replied, "You did." Then, leaning down to kiss him, he added between one breath and the next, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

"Shh," Blaine chided, pulling him into another kiss and tangling a hand in his hair.

Kurt let himself be pulled down and said no more, content to enjoy the more worldly pleasures that Blaine had to offer.

**Author's Note:**

> P.S. Please let me know if there are any weird coding errors in the fic! I did my best to weed them out before publication, but some will inevitably slip through the cracks.


End file.
